Tim Hardaway Sr. spoke in an interview with Gilbert Arenas about the 1992 USA Dream Team. He noted that Isiah Thomas, who was famously left off the roster, didn’t get picked because Michael Jordan specifically requested that Thomas not be on the team as a prerequisite to his commitment to Team USA. Chuck Daly, the head coach, wanted Thomas on the squad, but couldn’t protest too much.
“They came to Michael. They really needed Michael to play. David Stern and the Olympic team said ‘Hey Mike, we really need you to play for this to go global’. Mike said ‘Alright, I will play only if Isiah [Thomas] is not on the team’…”
“He said that to them. Magic was cool with that. What’s really crazy is that the coach had trouble with that. He wanted his guy on the team. Chuck Daly had trouble. But he knew it was business. He wanted to be that first person to get that gold for the Dream Team. He had to be okay with it but he wasn’t okay with it.”
The long-standing rumor is that Isiah Thomas was left off the team because of Michael Jordan’s demands. However, for his part, Jordan denied having anything to do with the decision to exclude Isiah from the team on ‘The Last Dance.’ But despite his repeated claims to the contrary, many believe that it was Jordan’s insistence, along with Magic Johnson and Scottie Pippen, that kept Thomas away.
Charles Barkley even confirmed the same last year, with Isiah Thomas saying that the lies of Jordan’s PR were being exposed.
It was hard to deny Thomas deserved a spot on the squad, given that he had been one of the best point guards in the NBA for years leading up to the Olympics. Thomas won two NBA championships and Finals MVPs in those years and did so by repeatedly getting the best of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
Hardaway Had No Problem Giving Magic His Spot
In the same interview, Tim Hardaway also spoke about Magic Johnson taking the top point guard spot on the Dream Team. He noted that he had no qualms about that, even willingly giving up his starting All-Star spot to Johnson a few months before. Hardaway added that Magic would have been a top NBA player had he still been playing, and felt that the former five-time NBA champion deserved the spot.
“Magic went out because of health problems. After they found out he could still play… I gave him my starting spot in the All-Star game. If Magic was playing, he would have been first-team All-NBA. He would have been on the All-Star team he would have been starting, no question… I live in the real world. I understood that. That’s the way it was. I didn’t think anything of it. It’s Magic…”
Hardaway seemingly had no hard feelings about Magic getting the prime point guard role on the team. And with all due respect to Hardaway, fans will be glad about it, as they got to see Magic Johnson play alongside Larry Bird and Michael Jordan in a competitive environment, as they led Team USA to the gold medal in Barcelona.
Getting to see three of the best players in the NBA on the same team at the Olympics was a joy to watch. The closest we have come since then to seeing something like this was last year when LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant all represented Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they won gold.
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